Some 30 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters late in May. Fifty-two protesters were wounded, according to Reuters.
NATO, which has been guarding Kosovo since the war ended in 1999, decided to deploy an extra 700 troops and put another battalion on high alert, bringing its force to about 4,511.
"We plan to face any kind of circumstances. That's the reason why we received additional forces. We do not react, we act," the commander of NATO troops, known as KFOR, Angelo Michele Ristuccia told to a group of journalists from his headquarters in the outskirts of Pristina.
He said the situation remained very tense, despite relative calm in recent days.
"There is not a military solution at this moment because the only way to solve this situation is a political decision which is based on the will of both sides to normalize their relations. But first to de-escalate," Ristuccia said.
The north of Kosovo, which is mainly inhabited by ethnic Serbs, has seen the worst tensions since the country declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
RHM/PR
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